MusicaRibelle

Very informative review. All those hiding places make it really special. To me it means this modular is not to be idly displayed, but it needs to be really accessible to show all those neat features and moving parts. It's definitely on my shopping list... Thanks again!

Well done! It's actually very nice and instructive to see the progress of your project over time. It looks really good now, and it runs really well. Looking forward to seeing this thread bumped again with pictures of a passenger car or two attached to the beautiful engine ;)

I doubt TLG will produce one: the idea of modulars is that they are in fact modular, and can be collected and displayed side by side. Having rails as part of the set would be a distraction or a nuisance to most modular fans, I am afraid. So for the time being, we have to build our own versions :)

19 cm is more than enough for two floors, each floor is approx 8 or 9 bricks high, and about 8 cm. While the modulars sold by TLG are typically three stories high, i.e. three floors, you can just take inspiration and build similar pieces with one less floor. Look at some new and old creator sets that, while not actual modulars, are a good source of inspiration and have dimensions that fit your space: the new toy store, new beach house, the old apple tree house, the old yellow beach house. For reasons of playability and visual perspective, the first row of buildings in my layout is also two stories only: I have built a station, a police station / firehouse combination, an office building, and a 'bed and breakfast' building with a restaurant downstairs and bedrooms upstairs. The grand emporium could be recreated with one floor less and still look pretty grand :) Best of luck!

We don't have DCC? IR and battery boxes are unsightly and hard to incorporate in small locos or steam locos? Can't put rods or third axle in current motorized bogie? Do you want more reasons? :)

I wish I was more versed in electronics, and be able to make a half-size battery box with LiIon batteries and mini usb for charging on top. In other words, when starting now, pf is the reasonable way to go, but I find battery boxes quite annoying. I never run my trains for long stretches of time, so I don't care about battery life, but I realize I probably am in the minority :)

Jfox: get the HE, since in the US we can still get it at the normal price. It will be fun to build, and you'll have no problem selling it in a year, once it's been retired, if you don't like it anymore. I started less than a year ago. Missed on the Emerald Knight, unfortunately. Got the 7939, the an old haul and cargo fitted with PF on eBay, and the Horizon Express. That got me reintroduced to lego and led me to be able to understand what to order from BL and trying some MOCs. Value-wise, trains are expensive, though lego trains are not more expensive than quality model trains. Each engine or full-size passenger car can start at $50, more if the engine includes a motor or other electronics. So from that point of view, whole sets are not a bad investment. As others have mentioned, wheels, axles, couplers are not cheap, and they add up quickly. But again, it's a hobby.. have a budget that you're comfortable with, then spend it and enjoy every bit of it, it's not about the money, it's about having fun!

Neat. I don't know why I hadn't done it yet, since it irritates me as well to have to open the roof every time :) Thanks for the suggestion, Ron!

Height should be 14 or 15 if you have electric locomotives with pantographs -- even the standard HE needs 14 for clearance, unless you keep the pantograph completely 'closed' aka 'down'. Make sure also you have 8 or more studs in length of straight track outside of the tunnel -- i.e. don't have a curve section immediately before the entrance. Obvious, perhaps , but since you wanted precise rules... :) The tunnel in itself can be boring (no pun intended), the interesting part of what you do with the sides and especially on top. I built one mostly to gain extra space for extra buildings, but i've seen examples of pretty nice mountain scenery, waterfalls, and other cool creations on top of tunnels..

As much as I want a new creator train set, the HE has not been retired yet. They have plenty in stock in the US, and I think this is just a temporary shortage in Europe due to higher demand. Patience... and if you don't have the HE yet and you're getting it for Christmas , congratulations, you're in for a treat!

Thanks, guys. I don't understand well this: "All the mechanism of the wheels have to be in line with the center of the wheels". Could you explain what you see that is wrong? I'd like to fix it :) [you can send me a private message in Italian, if it's easier, I am a native speaker] And yes, the two sides are 90 degrees out of phase.

This is my first attempt at building a steam locomotive, and it gave me the opportunity to learn something new, as well as starting a small inventory of Technic pieces, which I hadn't seen since owning and building set 852 as a kid... a long time ago. I picked an Italian humble locomotive from the Gruppo 625, a 2-6-0 workhorse that remained in use for over fourty years. http://www.microsoft...comotiva_FS_625 In fact, some of them are still in working order and they are used for occasional 'revival' rides in various old lines around the country. It's thanks to their longevity and the fact that some are still in limited service that I was able to find recent photos online to get insipiration: https://www.flickr.c...in/photostream/ I used all 'regular' Lego pieces, though now I'm curious to try out BBB wheels and possibly the custom rods built by Zephyr. In the original series, a few different models of tender were used, some with 3 axles, some with two 'conventional' trucks. For simplicity, I used a single truck which is also a PF motor. That said, I definitely see how the best option is really to have a motor geared up to the main locomotive: the current design is not reliable, especially for the front truck, is rather 'temperamental' when traversing points or flex tracks. I've tried several ways to connecting the truck, and the one I arrived at is generally stable, but not 100% perfect, especially after a while. I see this model as an evolution of the toy locomotives from the 80s, e.g. the 7750, but this time with PF elements. I'm still not skilled enough to do a 'serious' reproduction and get enough of the details right, but this was fun, and this is really my goal at the moment. This locomotive is now pulling (technically, the tender is pulling :) ) my Ratische Bahn wagons from a Bernina Express inspired design I built earlier. It would be better to couple this with maroon or black passenger cars with "many doors" and narrow windows, as it was the style of the early XX century.. maybe a project for another month. Here's the train next to the HE, coming to my regional station on my home layout:

I have nothing particularly constructive to say except: great idea!! Funny enough, I'm currently waiting for the last batch of pieces from BL to arrive to build my first steam moc, after rebuilding from parts a 7720, so in a way I spent the last few weeks collecting pieces and building my own steam hobby train set -- but I would gladly buy this, if it ever came available. Aside from AFOLs, I think a set like this would make a great gift. If TLG offered again set of curved+straight tracks, I would in fact recommend this over a 'complete' but single-build train set for the 8+ yrs old crowd. Anyhow, I support this project, I hope "something" comes out of it. For example, TLG could take it and scale it down to a 3-in-1 steam locomotive and tender set, setting the price in the $50-70 range. I know, we wouldn't get those beautiful dark green windows... but that will be resolved in a few years by technology. Cheers!

Hello, I suggest you download and try BlueBrick or LDraw and try out a few plans based on the space you have. You can search and find many references to those tools on this forum, along with many examples of layouts. They are very easy to use, and you will have a much better idea of what is possible with your space. ..that said, I start with the tool, but then I rearrange rails and buildings every now and then, based on how they actually look and how reachable or 'playable' some zones of the layout are. Enjoy your trains, and don't forget to post pictures of your train and city layout when you have built it! :)

I only use new tracks but I have a couple of cars with old wheels -- there is more friction but they do fine. I've seen pictures of various layouts with a mix of old and new trains on newer tracks. I suppose the problem occurs in between track sections, as the joints in the old tracks are only on the plate, not between rails. You could try to mitigate or solve the problem with some color-matched duct tape, even just to see if that's the real problem -- I know, ugly, but as an experiment. Otherwise, go to bricklink to pick up a loop made of new PF tracks. Curves are relatively cheap.

Brilliant! I came up with the same idea a week ago, since my layout grew in rail 'area' and I am running out of space for buildings I want to display. Funnily enough, I hadn't see these posts and pictures until now, but it confirms it is possible, functional, and good-looking. Now I am waiting on my bricklink order to start building Thanks again for the inspiration!

My opinion is the kit is not worth it. I bought the 'plain' HE for $130 and then I bought on ebay a used train for $75: it came with motor, battery box, ir, remote, lights and a lot of spare parts for a second MOC train. I feel that we're going to see more older pf models on sale on ebay and similar sites, complete with rails.

I got the station and built it, and I hope to find the time for a review. I like a lot the details of the stores and the signs. It comes with four straights, which is nice, the station itself is three sections long (48 studs): too long, imho, especially since so much space is taken by the support pilons and new connecting pieces, which don't add much. I'll let it stay for a week or two, then I plan to 'remodel', by adding a back and a second floor.

Fantastic , and as others have said, great staging for the photographs , it makes the train even more special. Question: where did you get the wheels for the locomotive? I'm working on a similar steam model, and to me it looks like only the old 12v motor had small wheels with a hole for the rods. How did you get yours to work? Thanks.

Absolutely great, complimenti! Great details, faithful to the original, and well proportioned at 6-wide. Can we see it towing some FS passenger cars?

That is really nice! The orange and white color scheme looks pretty good, I think it's a nice update of those classic sets.

Nice, I think the experiment was a success. What do you plan to build next?

I'm very impressed. It's not the direction I want to go myself -- I have taken up Lego again as a stress-free, anything-goes hobby -- but I admire very much the work you've done. The colors of your Lego reproductions imho end up looking better than the O-scale models, so excellent choice there as well. Some of your Flicker pictures show models on O gauge rails -- have you actually tried to run some of your Lego trains on O rails + controls? Just curious..

14:1 20:3 34:2 Best of luck to all the contestants!

This is one of those times when flex track comes handy :)